


All's Fair

by raendown



Series: MadaTobi Week 2019 [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 11:49:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20134978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Sometimes to get what he wants, to protect the young ones under his command, Tobirama falls back on some rather underhanded tactics. Madara falls for it beautifully.





	All's Fair

**Author's Note:**

> MadaTobi Week Day 3 Prompt: Prisoner of War

“Well, well, well. How interesting.” Perched on the branch of a sturdy oak, Madara tilted his head for a better view of the makeshift cage below. “What have we here? Looks to me like a defenseless Senju waiting for rescue to come find him.”

Tobirama didn’t even bother to open his eyes. Kicked back with his arms tucked behind his head and a water bottle capped at his side, he appeared perfectly at ease.

“My team is still winning,” he pointed out. Madara scowled.

“Well you’re still our prisoner!”

“And we have three of your team in our prison. The odds are in my favor. You remember our bet, yes?”

The smugness that he’d been enjoying filtered away until Madara was left pouting on his branch. Whoever came up with the idea to use survival games as training for their prospective genin teams probably thought they were super clever. He wondered if they had taken in to account the strength of the teachers that actually led the teams. Namely him and Tobirama, actually, since neither of them had given much thought to the other three teams that were supposed to be involved in this game.

Speaking of strength, Madara narrowed his eyes. How on earth did Tobirama get captured? Out of everyone running around the woods that day Tobirama was one of the ones he would have expected to avoid capture the longest, if not for the entire game. He’d sort of expected this man to be the biggest obstacle against his own team winning.

“Who put you in here, hm? I’d love to know who to offer a high five for taking down the high and mighty Senju Tobirama himself.”

“It’s no one’s fault,” Tobirama said. “I put myself in here.”

“Always the noble hero. I hope you know how pretentious you sound when you do that.”

Finally Tobirama cracked both eyes open to smile up at him disarmingly. That right there was a warning sign if Madara had ever seen one. As a prisoner and his sworn rival – in today’s game, at least, since Hashirama generally filled that spot quite loudly – Tobirama should have no reason to smile at him. With suspicion mounting in him Madara swung down from the branch to land inside the prison.

His fellow teacher watched him complacently as he checked to make sure there were no students hiding nearby trying to break their leader out but there weren’t any chakra signatures anywhere close to them, most of them concentrated somewhere west of his current location. The gate to their little ‘prison’ was open but it seemed that Tobirama was playing by the rules and staying put until he could be ‘rescued’ by someone from his team. Still, something didn’t feel right and now that he’d noticed Madara was determined to figure out what it was.

“You’re up to something,” he accused, cutting through the bullshit. Tobirama hardly even twitched at his words.

“Am I? The only thing I’m up for right now is a good nap. It’s a shame you’re blocking all the good sunlight or I could fall asleep right here.” As if to drive the point home he yawned and didn’t bother to cover his mouth.

“Stop ignoring me! I know you and you always have a backup plan!”

Of all things, that seemed to get the man’s attention. Madara tensed warily when Tobirama cocked his head, sitting up slowly and rising to his feet with a thoughtful expression. “Do you now? You think you know me, Uchiha? What an interesting statement.”

“I do,” Madara insisted. “I always keep an eye on you.” He wasn’t prepared for the flutter of Tobirama’s lashes or the way his opponent stepped a little closer.

“Really? My, my. And what might you be watching me for?”

Tobirama grinned and Madara froze. Had he ever been on the receiving end of so many smiles from this man before today? Strange. It felt oddly like a victory of some kind and suddenly he understood just a little better what Hashirama was always blathering on about when he went off on one of his speeches trying to convince Madara that his brother wasn’t really all _that_ bad. Surely no one with a smile that pretty could be entirely evil.

Enraptured, curious to see what would happen next, he offered no protests as Tobirama came close enough for their chests to almost brush together. He’d never been so close to the other before and he was a little thrown off to see freckles on those pale cheeks, so light they blended in with his skin unless viewed from a few inches away. Freckles had always been one of his secret weaknesses. Apparently Tobirama was no different in that department, the way they dotted the apples of his cheeks while he continued to smile.

“Would you like to hear a secret, Uchiha?”

“Secrets are a shinobi’s best friend,” Madara replied out of habit, something his old sensei used to drill in to his head when he was younger.

“That they are. Well here’s my secret: I watch you too.” Very slowly, deliberately, Tobirama winked at him. Madara realized suddenly that there wasn’t nearly enough air between them. Had the day always been this warm?

Clearing his throat, he asked, “What, uh, what do you watch me for?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

His opponent leered and dropped his gaze to watch Madara lick his lips, bringing his eyes back up just to lift both eyebrows suggestively. Never in his life had Madara considered Tobirama in this light but now he found himself wondering how he could have been so blind.

When Tobirama leaned in Madara’s eyes drifted closed, heart pounding in his chest. He waited…and waited…and eventually opened his eyes to find Tobirama several feet away lounging in the center of the mock prison’s open doorway.

“Uh…what the hell just happened?” he breathed.

“You fell for our trap quite nicely,” Tobirama said, casually inspecting his nails. “You’ll have noticed, I hope, that the door was never shut. That’s because I was never captured. I did tell you that I put myself in here. And now I believe I’ve distracted you for long enough that the rest of your team should be under our control. Thanks for playing along, Uchiha.”

“_Fuck you!_” Enraged at having been taken in so easily, Madara lunged forward with both hands extended.

Obviously Tobirama managed to slip away from him, as quick in his amusement as Madara was sloppy in his rage, but instead of disappearing he paused on the branch of a nearby tree to look back with a cocky smirk.

“If you ever want to finish that kiss, though, you know where my office is.” With that he was gone.

Madara was left to stand in the middle of his own prison, kicking up dust with rage and doing his best not to look as helplessly intrigued as he felt. Only after he’d vented his frustrations did he finally calm down enough to start coming up with a plan.

First he was going to go rescue his team members. Then he was going to win this stupid team building exercise or game or whatever Hashirama wanted to call it. And then tomorrow when they both came in for work he was going to march straight in to Tobirama’s office, demand an explanation, and finish that stupid kiss.

Time to get started.


End file.
